o/t Visiting the US - west coast.

Well we are counting down the days to our trip to the US. We arrive in LA on wednesday 4th September and pick up the hire car and we are off on our 2500 - 3000 mile big circular road trip picking as many sights as we can on the way. We will be in the US for around three weeks. We head for Fresno then Yosemite National Park (we have some concerns regarding route due to the wild fires we hear about and possible road closure). Reno then racing at Salt Lake, Salt Lake City, Bryce Canyon National Park,Zion National Park,Grand Canyon Village and area then making our way back west to Las Vegas and return car to LA. We should get a taste of Route 66 as well which is something Ive always wanted to do.We will be busy but really looking forward to it all. Anyway as you can imagine we have tried to plan in as many of the usual sights as possible but as always happy to listen to anything you guys can suggest that"s worth seeing assuming we have the time.As a child I really liked the TV show Bonanza, does the Pandarosa still exits or was it something that was dismantled years back? As with all our trips to Canada and the US I like to take in the odd tractor show as well as visiting any tractor wrecker yards (and as long as I dont spend too long there my wife is happy). Any suggestions for this over the next three weeks or so would be good. Of course there there maybe isnt must farming in these areas we will just have to wait see.
Thanks
Bill

When you are in the Grand Canyon area stop at Meteor Crater. One of my favorites.

I have been to Bryce Canyon and Zion 3 times in the RV and will be returning there next summer, actually I like Bryce as much as the Grand Canyon YOU ARE GONNA LOVE THOSE PARKS. I recommend you to consider staying at historic Rubys Inn when your at Bryce Canyon. They will pick you up from there in nice busses and take you to all the stops in the Park and theres a similar bus tour in Zion USE THEM is my advice. When in Salt Lake City, however, I was disappointed in the Great Salt Lake but the State Capital and the Mormon Temple complex are sure worth a visit if you have time when youre there.

John T Retired RV Traveler

We just returned home from our trip Stateside on Thursday, Bill. Once again we were in tractor country....the big midwest.
Met plenty of friendly folk and had a great time.
Enjoy your trip.....Sam

Yosemite Valley has been uneffected by the fire. Only highway 120 is closed. Both 140 and 41 are open. The fire is in a remote area of the park.

I was never to the west coast until 1973, the US government was having two scout vehicles built and I was sent out to install the instrumentation
on both vehicles before they were sent to the Aberdeen Proving Ground for testing. The union at both companies would not allow me to install so
their contract was modified that allowed them to install it. I took my wife along too.

The people out there so friendly wanted to know where we were from and I told them we were from Agnew country. He was the former governor of MD and was Nixon's vice president who forgot to pay his taxes who later resigned. We tested both scout vehicles, but they were never put into production. Enjoy your vacation there's a lot to see just in CA. We visited all those grape vineyards where they make wine. I was also sent to Huntsville AL and to
Tulsa, OK. I took my wife along too. The company in Tulsa known as Unit Rig built very large dump trucks. 100 and 200 tons. The dump beds were so big they had to be assembled at the mine site. Hal

i don"t know if they run the old train cars like they had in one of the gunsmoke episode but my grandfather and i hauled the wheels for them and train brought the cars we unloaded by the railroad track in petaluma, ca

You're right. Coming from Fresno, he would most likely take Hwy 41. Shouldn't be a problem.

I am in the process of planning a trip to revisit Bryce, Monument Valley and Grand Canyon again. Monument Velley is where they filmed many famous old westerns and the highlight of the trip (to me). The famous movie "Stagecoach "(1939) with John Wayne was shot there . Filming took place near Goulding's Trading Post on the Utah border, about 25 miles from Kayenta.

Out there the roads are wide open and you can really travel fast and far. Enjoy the Navajo Indian scenes, many like a hundred years ago except for pickup trucks and TV antennas.

This not really farm country, so very few tractors. Take a light jacket, it may be cold in the high altitude spots. September is a prime month for good weather there.

Enjoy!

Which states did you visit? Did you manage to Pete"s yard at Anamoose? We got there a couple of years ago and spent a couple of hours dismantling parts withe Pete, great guy. He uses sheep on his land to keep grass down so no snakes to worry about unlike some other places Ive been.
Bill

Bill, ain't that Pete's tractor salvage yard impressive? I went there with my nephew about 20 years ago. He was so embarrassed, 'cause I was wandering around taking pictures. He had my part, though...

Bill, if you're in Fresno, you're in the middle of farming country in California. I'd suggest heading north a bit, past Sacramento to the Heidrick Ag History Museum and the adjoining truck museum in Woodland, CA. It's about 180 miles north northwest of Fresno. You'll find a whole bunch of tractors there that are more or less unique to the California area. Lots of Best and Holt crawlers. In Sacramento itself there is a railroad museum that I've heard is real good, though I've never been there. In addition to the National Parks you've listed, if you have time to go to Mesa Verde National Park, it was one of the highlights of my trip thru the southwest. It's not too far from the Four Corners area, where Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona meet. Mesa Verde is impressive for it's ancient cliff dwellings. I say ancient, but they're actually only a few hundred years old, and in Scotland terms, I suppose they aren't all that old. Have fun on your trip!

Sadly, I believe the Ponderosa Ranch facility has closed.

Once at Bryce, its not all that far to Zion, then you can head Southeasterly to the Grand Canyon. I agree Monument Valley and Vally of the Gods there in Southern Utah/Colorado into Arizona IS A DEFINITE MUST SEE...Last summer we did the "Grand Five" Natl Parks in southern Utah, Bryce, Zion, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands and Arches and added Dead Horse State Park WOWWWWWWW

Trouble is once you have seen the big Western States Natl Parks, around here in southern Indiana just dont get it anymore grrrrrrrr. I must say we sure have enjoyed the Kentucky and Tenn State Parks and Lakes and reservoirs over the years, Kentucky Lake, lake Barkley, Dale Hollow, Cumberland lake woooooo hoooooooo

John T

If your traveling highway 58 between mojave and barstow visit the borax mine site. Free and very neat history. Overlook mine hole about five miles across and mile deep. 300 ton cat trucks running material

Only salvage yard we got to this time was Wengers in Myerstown....Not really my type of salvage yard as you don't get to remove the parts yourself!
We flew into Philly, Then travelled diagonally up across PA to the Ferguson show in Vienna OH....then across to Celina Oh and into Indiana for the Portland show and through part of Virginia on the way back to Philly.
Sam

The central valley should give you a tractor fix, lots of new and old machines all over the place. Yosemite? The fires depend on the winds, we'll all see how that pans out one day at a time...
If you are into westerns, you're in good shape, but Bonanza? sorry, the Ponderosa Ranch 'tourist trap' closed maybe ten years ago. It was on the west bank of Tahoe, way in the woods.
The real Virgina City is worth seeing, a winding drive up a mountain, but worth it, touristy, but mostly original stuff. Including the train ride towards Carson City. Old west things in Carson City too, and if into trains, the Nevada State Railroad Museum is south of Carson on the side of the road, can't miss it. Many Reno hotels and Casinos have small western related museums or collections- or did have...
I believe Uncle Henry is talking about the 'Hooterville Cannonball', which is restored and working at 'railtown 1897 state park', in Jamestown Ca, northeast of Yosemite. Some wild west things to do in the 'gold country' around there too. Still mostly in the fire areas tho.
A lot of driving between 'things to do' in northern Nevada and Utah, but I'm sure for your lot that will be half the fun!!

Stop at the Harris Ranch Restaurant near Colinga, Calif. thinking on Hwy. 5...They claim 100,000 head on feed and they have an airfield to their restaurant also.....GREAT BEEF EATING PLACE plus the feed yard is about 10 miles up the Hwy.

And if you are in the Barstow are at mealtime, stop at Casa Jiminez restaurant on Barstow Rd just south of I-15. Good food, but the real treat is all the exotic animal taxidermy. Must be hundreds of animals, from birds and fish to large animals like elk and bear.

Ponderosa closed as a visitor attraction in 2004. I don't know if the remnants of it are still there or not. Tahoe is a beautiful place, though. Right now (5:20PM on 1 Sep, 2013) it's 87 degrees F in Reno with 2 1/2 miles visibility in smoke. Guess where that's coming from. Reno sits at an altitude of about 4500' above sea level.

This is one of our classic American car ads from the land you are about to visit. Hope you enjoy it.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8aSNDFwm0U

Good luck on your trip. Hopefully you'll have time to swing through a bit of southwestern Colorado and spend a day at Mesa Verde. But wherever you go, take your time and enjoy your trip.

Bill:

When you're in the Las Vegas area a MUST SEE is Death Valley National Park & Scotty's Castle (northern end of Death Valley).

Scotty's Castle is an old English castle that was completely dismantled and shipped around "the Horn" of South America to the West Coast, where it was then freighted by train & wagon to it's location in Death Valley and completely reconstructed; - fantastic - a MUST SEE !

When I worked in the Mining industry, I actually lived and worked in Death Valley, - a fantastic place! A lot to see and do there. I still go over there quite often, as I now live in Pahrump, Nevada - half way between Las Vegas and Death Valley.

ENJOY your vacation, where-ever you decide to go.

Doc

Heidricks is about a 3 hour visit minimum. The train museum in Sacramento is also worth a couple of hours.

Rim fire is 60% contained so it shouldn't be too bad by the time you get here. Enjoy my lovely state of CA.